At a dark time in U.S. history, the trans-Atlantic slave trade was at its peak, with more than 12 million people shipped to various nations only to endure punishing labor on farms and in factories, building railroads, and more. “Slavery was abolished 150 years ago and yet there are more people in slavery today than in any other time in our history,” said American Public University System (APUS) professor Michael Pittaro. Today, there are an estimated 21 million victims worldwide and only a small percentage of these victims are reported to authorities.

Human trafficking is a local issue. Read more about why community stakeholders and citizens gathered in West Virginia to learn how to recognize and fight human trafficking at the local level.

Human trafficking is modern-day slavery in which traffickers use force, fraud or coercion to get victims to provide labor or services against his or her will. It is a crime that happens around the world, in both large cities and small towns.

While the true size of this problem is immeasurable, the International Labor Organization estimates there are 20.9 million victims of human trafficking globally, including 5.5 million children.

Human trafficking is modern-day slavery with victims providing labor or services through force, fraud or coercion. This crime is happening everywhere, from large cities to small towns around the world.

The true size of this problem is immeasurable, but the Northern Tier Anti-Trafficking Consortium (NTAC) estimates that 800,000 individuals are trafficked across international borders every year and 27 million people are enslaved across the world.

As with many criminal enterprises, there are common terms and slang phrases used by perpetrators of human trafficking. It is important for law enforcement officers to know such terminology to help identify potential cases.

Here is a list of common terms and definitions used by traffickers:

Automatic: A term denoting the victim’s “automatic” routine when her pimp is out of town, in jail, or otherwise not in direct contact with those he is prostituting.

John Meekins has been a corrections officer in Florida for more than nine years. Throughout his career, he has often heard female inmates talk about being prostituted and held captive by pimps—a situation he initially considered a consequence for many drug abusers.

The term “human trafficking” makes headlines every day, but those headlines often miss the point of a truly sordid story of women locked into lives for which there is no end—often because law enforcement and corrections officials do not recognize the true situation.

About American Military University

AMU is the nation’s largest provider of online higher education to the U.S. military, and offers more than 190 degree and certificate programs including Homeland Security, Intelligence Studies, Emergency & Disaster Management, Criminal Justice, and more.